Vice President JD Vance praised Pope Leo XIV's warning about artificial intelligence, calling it "profound." The remarks are a rare compliment from a high-ranking member of the Trump administration after public feuds between top officials and the pontiff.
In an interview with NBC News, the Vice President, a Catholic himself, discussed Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo's first major encyclical. The document warns that AI, if unregulated, could harm humanity more than it helps it.
"What I read of it sounds very profound, and the sort of thing that you would expect and hope from a leader of the church," Vance said. "The thing about morality is that the principles never change, but the way you apply those principles does, because the world changes, right?"
Vance added that he's "glad" the Pope wrote the encyclical, as "new technologies and warfare" means "you have to update 'Just War' doctrine." "New ways of human beings interacting with one another, so you have to kind of rethink the entire Catholic social teaching in light of the new world that we live in. And I think that's exactly what the pope is trying to do. So I'm glad that he did it," he added.
Leo called for political action to protect workers, children, and citizens while cautioning against leaving control of AI data and systems solely in private hands. "What is needed is a more active political involvement that is capable of slowing things down when everything is accelerating," Leo wrote.
In the encyclical, the pope called for stronger regulation of AI and urged developers and political leaders to place human dignity above profit as the technology transforms the world. Leo framed the document as part of the Catholic Church's long social justice tradition, drawing a direct line to Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII's 1891 text on workers' rights during the Industrial Revolution.
"The pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs, because the human person is an end, not a means, and the economic order must remain subordinate to human dignity and the common good," Leo wrote.
The document also raised alarms about autonomous weapons, saying lethal or irreversible decisions should not be entrusted to artificial systems. Leo wrote that "moral judgment cannot be reduced to calculation, for it involves conscience, personal responsibility and the recognition of the other as a person."
Vance had signaled interest in the encyclical before its release. At a May 19 White House briefing, he said he was "looking forward to reading" it and predicted it would be "a very, very important document."
The pope also warned that the transition itself can damage lives and communities if employment becomes available only to a smaller share of people. "Work remains a fundamental dimension of the human experience, for not only is it a means of sustenance, but it is also a context for expression, relationships, and contributing to the community," Leo wrote.
The vice president has previously said the government is not fully equipped to provide moral leadership on AI and that the church may be better positioned to do so. "The American government is not equipped to provide moral leadership," Vance said in a 2025 interview with The New York Times. "I think the Church is."
Vance's praise came after weeks of friction between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo over the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Trump has accused the pope of being too soft on Tehran and falsely suggested that Leo believed Iran should be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. Leo rejected that claim, saying the church's mission is to "preach peace" and noting that Catholic teaching has long opposed nuclear weapons.
